So I've had the JAM manual for quite a while now and I've been reading it along with the texts to add little notes here and there (although I've added hardly any) and I'm told a second manual will help me.

See, the JAM manual is great at summarizing and will be of great help for memorizing before the exam. However I need a manual that will better explain the readings (even a little). I'm told Goldfarb is good at explaining the readings. But this board seems to like Actex and hardly ever mentions Goldfarb. I happen to have hated Actex for the first four exams.

So Actex I hear has better questions. Goldfarb I hear has better explanations. Maybe neither of these statements are true. Which manual should I get as something to help me further with the exam process? At this point, it seems damn near impossible I can do anything with this exam, but I'd hate to think I didn't try as hard as I could.

beck

01-20-2008, 10:44 PM

i have goldfarb and i think it's pretty good, lots of questions and good explanations.... i think not many people mentioning it on this board is because it's not finished yet... the final version will come out on Feb 1st, so for people wanting to start early, they'll rather go with actex

alagangang

01-21-2008, 10:06 AM

i have goldfarb and i think it's pretty good, lots of questions and good explanations.... i think not many people mentioning it on this board is because it's not finished yet... the final version will come out on Feb 1st, so for people wanting to start early, they'll rather go with actex
I have both JAM and Goldfarb 2007. I feel the same way.

Car'a'carn

01-21-2008, 12:08 PM

I prefer Goldfarb.

waha

01-21-2008, 04:57 PM

I went to Goldfarb's seminar for FET in May. That was the only option since Carmody didn't do it. In general, I liked Goldfarb's seminar since I really didn't have time to go through the readings so I found that his reading summaries served me well in saving tons of time. Also had Carmody's manual as a second source and only used his condensed outline for memorization purposes, didn't have time to go through Carmody's manual though.
I will be going to Carmody's seminar this time for APM and will get Goldfarb's manual. However, I am a bit torn between which one I shall use as the primary source. Naturally, I probably will use JAM manual this time around because of the seminar but since I had good fortune with my FET experience,
I wonder if the shuffle will throw me off though :) After all, this will be my last exam for FSA, I don't really want to jinx my passing streak, call me superstitious.

Eroboy

01-29-2008, 03:52 PM

Goldfarb's manual has superb explanation based on my experience with FET exam. JAM's is pretty much a reiteration of the materials. The only drawback of Goldfarb’s manual I see is that Goldfarb usually reorganizes the material and sometimes not follow the paper exactly, so for those who are worried about missing something you might want to get JAM's. I probably will get either JAM or Actex for memory cards.

This is based on the assumption that I will read the paper and books. From my experience on FET, reading books and materials are far better than JAM's manual if you have enough time to do it. If I am not mistaken, 80% of the calculation problems in the FET afternoon sessions are derivatives from the examples in the paper or book.

To add some credibility of my opinion, I got 10 in the recent FET exam.

sundwarf

01-29-2008, 06:44 PM

I am going to use goldfarb as my primary manual. It worked for me for my FET exam, so hopefully it should work again this time.